How to Become a Civil Servant: Career Guide, Courses, After 12th, Jobs, Scope, Salary

Types of Civil Servants

A career as a civil servant can be challenging but offers a lot to the aspirant in terms of job security, high salary, and a better lifestyle. Professional certification post bachelor’s degree can help your career to boost start directly as a civil servant. 

Some of the major types among the civil servants are listed below:

Divisional Commissioner

Divisional Commissioner is the facilitator of all activities associated with the overall organization that incorporates peace and lawfulness, income organization, and advancement organization at the divisional level. The Divisional Commissioner heads the income organization in his division and hears advances against the sets of District Collectors. 

Sub Divisional Officer

They are responsible for different development activities going on in the sub-division. The work of the Sub Divisional Officer is to facilitate crafts by different offices.

District Magistrate

The District Magistrate is liable for running the organization of the locale easily and appropriately. He/she is the primary specialist for making the essential coordination of the authority organizations working inside the area. As a Collector, he/she is answerable for the assortment of revenue from the area.

Chief Secretary

The Chief Secretary ensures between departmental co-appointment. They're the administrator of coordination councils which are set in the mood for settling between departmental debates and furthermore prompts the secretaries between departmental difficulties.

Cabinet Secretary

Chief Secretary goes about as the main organizer of the central government. They act as a connection between the political framework and the common administrations of the country. The duty of a Cabinet Secretary incorporates observing and organizing activities of different services and divisions.

Steps to become a Civil Servant

To become a civil servant, you have to follow a strategy. Below we have shared some steps which will give you an idea about what points to keep in mind during the preparation for this career.

Do Your Research

• Civil services career is considered highly coveted. Hence, you should look out for the pros and cons of becoming a civil servant and decide whether the job role aligns with your interests. 
• Look for the right courses, tests, certifications and job openings around your area.
• You can take guidance from police and fire departments, where they conduct intensive physical tests along with interviews for a civil servant job role.

Develop Your Skills

• As a civil servant, you interact with people of all different ages and cultures. 
• As a result, you should have skills such as teamwork, cultural awareness, and adaptability.
• Civil servants serve the community, so an aspirant must inculcate values of honesty, empathy and integrity. 
• Apart from specific skills, aspirants should also have excellent communication and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with the workers and general public.

Prepare for Civil Service Tests

To become a civil servant, you need to pass certain exams such as UPSC, general aptitude, personality, and work related skills tests. While the college can help you prepare for such kinds of tests, it is essential that you should look out for coaching or training institutes dedicated to train civil service aspirants.

Prepare for Interviews

• For every kind of civil service job, you will be interviewed by the supervisor of the department you are applying for. 
• The interview consists of job-related questions along with many of the standard interview queries about your academics and background. 
• Certain Higher-level civil servant roles may also require aptitude tests.
• For online interviews, make sure you have the necessary software. If possible, have a backup device ready in case of any technical issues.

How to Become a Civil Servant in India

Becoming a civil servant in India is a challenging job. Candidates who wish to pursue this career, must train their mind to face some issues and start preparing after qualifying their matriculation examination. Thereafter they need to choose the right subjects, prepare for Graduation, followed by preparation for the UPSC examination.

Courses to become a civil servant

After your 10+2 you can pursue different types of courses from UG level to PG level to become a civil servant.

BA in Public Policy and Administration

• BA in Public Policy and Administration is a 3-years course which provides training in the public policy field as well as public management. 
• This course provides knowledge of democratic values, such as security, justice, and order, economics, public finance, equality, research methods, public policy, leadership, and strategy.
• Admission to B.A. The Public Policy and Administration Program is through two ways. It is offered either on the basis of merit score or the score obtained by a student in any relevant entrance test. 
• The application form of the college is through both online or offline mode.
• Students must have cleared their class 12th with at least 50% from a recognised board
• Students from any subject are eligible to pursue this course.

There are many entrance exams conducted by the institutes for Admission in BA Course. Given below are some of the entrance exams for the program

• Banaras Hindu University Undergraduate Entrance Test (BHU UET)
• Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test (TANCET)
• Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET)
• ITM University Entrance Test (ITM NEST)

BA Political Science

• BA Political Science or Bachelor of Arts in Political Science is a 3-year undergrad program. The course includes the study of both public and global political frameworks. 
• During the course, understudies are shown recorded and current political frameworks, policy management, administrative arrangements and strategies, global relations, and public undertakings.
• Admission to B.A Political Science is through two ways. It is offered either on the basis of the cutoff score released by the university and the score obtained by a student in any relevant entrance test. 
• The application form of the college is through both online or offline mode.
• The basic eligibility criteria is 10+2 or any other equivalent examination 
• Candidates must have passed the 12th board examinations with at least 50% marks.

There are many entrance exams conducted by the institutes for Admission in BA Political Science Program. Given below are some of the entrance exams for the program

• LPUNEST
• CUET
• DUET
• SUAT

MA Public Policy

• MA Public Policy is a 2-year full-time postgraduate program which aims to outfit students with the abilities of tending to efficient, political and social issues and dealing with these issues by coming up with coherent solutions.
• The MA Public Policy Admission Process can vary according to the college rules and guidelines. 
• A few colleges offer admission to students in this course depending on merit. Some of the top-most colleges conduct entrance tests to allow admission to qualified applicants.
• The minimum eligibility criteria for students looking for admission to MA Public Policy program is to Hold a Bachelor's degree in a relevant subject from a perceived college with 50% marks.

MA Public Administration

• MA Public Administration is a 2-year post-graduate program offered by the Social Science branch of different colleges the nation over. 
• The principle point of the course is to give extensive information on the interrelationships between State, Society and Administration.
• Admission to Master of Public Administration depends on merit (scores in graduation) as well as different entrance tests led by the college/school offering the course.
• The students should have a graduation degree in any subject from a perceived college with at least 50% marks.

Some of the MA entrance test conducted by the university are:

• BHU PET 
• IPU CET 
• JMI Entrance exam 
• AMU Entrance Exam 

PhD Public Administration

• PhD in Public Administration is a 3-5 year doctoral degree program. 
• This course is all about administration. Students who wish to gain expertise in public administration and it's related field can pursue this course.
• The top most degree PhD in Public Administration admits students on the merit based or entrance-based or entrance-based with interview depending with respect to the guidelines commanded by the affiliated University.
• Students who wish to get admission into PhD Public Administration degree ought to have at least of 55 % marks in PG/UG from any perceived university
• Personal interviews are conducted for the students who have qualified the entrance test.

Some of the entrance exams for PhD Public Administration course are:

• GATE
• Indira Gandhi National Open University PhD Entrance Test
• University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test
• Symbiosis Entrance Test

How to become a Civil Servant Abroad

After high school or graduation, you can choose to become a civil servant abroad by either pursuing UG or PG public policy and administration related courses from the UK or Canada, or looking for jobs abroad right after you pursue your graduation in India.

Educational Requirements

The general prerequisites for pursuing any kind of civil service related courses from abroad are:

• English Proficiency tests like IELTS/ PTE/ TOEFL
• Bachelor's degree from a recognised university
• CV/Resume
• Letter of Recommendation
• Statement of Purpose

United Kingdom

Masters in public administration in the UK are offered at some of the most popular colleges. 

Seeking after this course in the UK is particularly an extraordinary decision thinking about the significant stand of the country in political plans and public issues.

Canada

Canada is a great choice for seeking after education. Public Administration courses in this country will assist students with improving their experiences and secure a worldwide level viewpoint to fill in as experts with careful information in this field. 

Benefits of Career as a civil servant

To become a civil servant is a dream of many subjects as this job not only gives you respect but there is much more than that you can get after becoming a civil servant.The following are some of the benefits of a career as a civil servant.

• Salary: Being a civil servant is not just a challenging career, but also has its perks like satisfying salary, work flexibility, learning opportunity, people-orientation, and the most important working for your country in different fields.
• Job Security: As this is a government job so there is no way of being fired easily hence you should not have to worry about job security.
• Positive Impact: The Positive impact of the career of having a civil servant in the industry will not only help in various sectors of the working hierarchy but will also help the organization prosper within.
• Unique Experience: Earning unique experience by identifying, assessing, managing risks, and gaining a vivid set of knowledge will help you to grow in your career and to make you ready for the next step in the government sector.

Pros of Becoming a Civil Servant

• A chance to serve the community, uphold the law and contribute to peaceful foreign relations.
• Excellent work benefits, including healthcare, paid time off and retirement funding plans. 
• Better work-life balance opportunities with normal office hours or flexible scheduling.
• Job security
• Opportunities to advance, or increase your skill set, depending on the department you are working for.

Cons of Becoming a Civil Servant

• Lower salary as compared to the private sector jobs.
• Complicated politics, which can make your job difficult and frustrating quite often.
• Little room for promotion in some departments due to high employee retention.

How to becoming a civil servant: Skills Required

To become a civil servant you must hold some useful skills required in this career. The following are some skills for the civil servant career.